Long Perilous to Visiting Birds, Building Receives a Makeover

By PETER DUFFY

Published: September 22, 2007

A sprawling building on the West Side of Manhattan has long been a deathtrap for the army of migrating birds that soar over the city.

Last fall, over the course of a few weeks, volunteers from the city's chapter of the Audubon Society recorded 338 migratory birds killed or injured after striking the Morgan Processing and Distribution Center, a United States Postal Service site that spans the area from West 28th to West 30th Street between Ninth and 10th Avenues.

The birds, mostly dark-eyed juncos, white-throated sparrows and ruby-crowned kinglets, were done in by 440 glass panels on the structure's south side. The panels reflected the trees across 28th Street in Chelsea Park and fooled birds into believing they were approaching a safe spot to feed and to rest.

In fact, of the many perilous obstacles in Manhattan in the path of migrating birds, the Morgan building was considered the most lethal, said Nicole Delacr?z, manager for Audubon's Project Safe Flight. From 2002 to 2006, volunteers recorded 862 crashes involving 66 different species. None involved those city-savvy locals -- pigeons.

But with this year's migratory season under way, the carnage at the center has abated after the Postal Service, confronted with the Audubon's careful accounting of bird deaths, came up with a solution.

Following recommendations from an architectural consultant, the service contracted Surfacecare, a specialty glass restoration company, to place black vinyl film over each of the decorative panels, which are not windows.

The work was completed in July and, according to Pat McGovern, a post office spokeswoman, the project cost $201,000.

''We did it because we want to be a good neighbor to the community and because of the significant amount of birds that were involved,'' Ms. McGovern said.

Audubon officials and Ann Galloway, a volunteer for the group, visited the building recently and were pleased to discover that no birds had crashed into it so far.

''You're not going to find any birds here today,'' Ms. Delacr?z said.

It was a far grimmer sight last Nov. 4, at the height of the migratory season. In a half-hour period that morning, Ms. Galloway, who works for a Park Avenue consulting firm, found 44 birds on the sidewalk, all but 11 of them dead.

''They were literally dropping,'' she said. ''It was awful.''

Migratory birds are often lured to Manhattan by the city's lights, said Daniel Klem Jr., an ornithologist at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., who has studied bird crashes involving windows for 30 years.

After arriving, the birds have a difficult time finding suitable places for respite, which makes them susceptible to being confused by window reflections, Dr. Klem said. ''They seek out any little green spot they can find,'' he said.

Project Safe Flight is now monitoring other buildings in Brooklyn and Manhattan that are dangerous to birds, with an emphasis on the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bellevue Hospital Center and the World Financial Center.

Mr. Phillips sees it as central to Audubon's mission to protect the streams of migratory birds passing through the city each spring and fall.

As part of a similar effort, at the request of the city and the Audubon Society two years ago, some high rises including the Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center, Citigroup Center, the Morgan Stanley Building and the World Financial Center dim or turn off nonessential lighting at midnight during migration seasons. The lights can be disorienting to night-migrating birds.

Barry Eladj, an immigrant from the West African nation of Guinea, who operates a pushcart at the corner 10th Avenue and 28th Street, appreciates the new look at the Morgan postal center.

''I watched them hit the window and fall,'' he said as he served lunch to a postal employee in front of the building. ''These birds never saw buildings like that before. They're not from here. They're not pigeons. They come here for a better life, and they died. But now that they changed the windows, everything is O.K.''

PHOTOS: Of the many obstacles in Manhattan dangerous to migrating birds, a United States Postal Service center on the West Side was considered the most lethal, an Audubon official said. The building's panels, which are not windows, have been blackened to prevent crashes.(PHOTOGRAPH BY LIBRADO ROMERO/THE NEW YORK TIMES)(pg.B1); Project Safe Flight, of the city's Audubon chapter, is now monitoring the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other buildings.(PHOTOGRAPH BY LIBRADO ROMERO/THE NEW YORK TIMES)(pg. B5)